YES  --- using your brain can be a challenge. When I was a kid and well into my teens, I was a voracious reader. I read every book I could get my hands on. Then I became an "adult," and I stopped reading—I have no idea why. WAIT—I discovered magazines and started reading them. While it is still reading, it is NOT the same as reading a book. 

So when I started back to reading novels, it took a while for my brain to process that "new" style of words - longer novels rather than short essays in magazines. 

I ...

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I've been thinking about knitting something with the LK150. I grabbed my copy of The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes and Gauges took some measurements and cast on. I used a simple e-wrap cast on and then hand manipulated the bottom 20 rows to make 2-by-2 ribbing. That took so much longer than knitting those 20 rows. I think it was worth it and definitely faster than knitting all that ribbing by hand.
I'm going to use a bunch of different colors in wide stripes. I'm just grabbing a color that ...

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Crochet Snowflake (Large Aprox 13cm)

Size 5.5 Hook     

DK Yarn Two Strands Worked Together 

How I make a Large Crochet Snowflake 

I Like to start with a Magic Circle 

(or you can use a 4 or 5 Chain start slip stitched together to create a circle)

Either Or is Fine

Make First Chain of Magic Circle tight to start off

Round One

Chain five (this represents 1 Treble and 2 Chains)

*Into the Circle make one Treble then Two Chains*

Next

Repeat from * to * Four more times pull your Magic Circle ...

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OK -- so what happened? It's freezing this morning! Of course, the temperature is only 17 and feels like 17, and with the windows open, it's cool in the house. It's crazy weather! 

When I was in the Wal-Mart the other day, I spotted this in the yarn section: Faux Leather. What the heck would you do with that? Yes -- it's long and stringy, just like yarn. WAIT a minute—now that I see this again, I want some! 

A skein of Faux Leather

But I guess the idea is you knit up a sweater or a ...

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Sharon -- you are so right!!! So many of the ideas that we see today as "new" and "modern" are not new or modern at all. So many techniques from years ago have been resurrected, and countless other things. The only thing I would say that is NOT being recreated is the color palette! The harvest gold and avocado green? Although I like those colors. Even the small muted prints of the 70s are back in vogue. WAIT - I stand corrected - even the color palettes are back, maybe not exact, but close! 

Well, I am a happy camper. I was definitely ...

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 We've been on vacation down in the Smoky Mountains.  We really love that area of the country.  We rent a cabin and relax and take some side trips into neighboring towns.  If you look closely, you can see the rainbow we saw from our cabin after a rain.

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 We've been on vacation down in the Smoky Mountains.  We really love that area of the country.  We rent a cabin and relax and take some side trips into neighboring towns.  If you look closely, you can see the rainbow we saw from our cabin after a rain.

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I decided to try doing stranded work on the LK150. I had somewhat mixed results. The first swatch showed me I'm still learning the technique. The tricky bit of trial and error is the keeping the trial going with all of the errors. 
I was pretty sure the tension was too tight so I changed that to prevent the dropped stitches. It got better but it still dropped some stitches. This try was much better. I'll have to keep working at it but I think this might not be the best yarn for this project. It is still ...

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I picked up some of this cute yarn at the local big box store to knit a few hats. First, I knit a swatch at what I figured were the right settings on the LK150. I like the resulting fabric so I did some  stich counting, measurements, math, and cast on. 
I used instructions I'd seen on the Machine Knitting Beginners and Returners Circle to make the crown of the hat in four sections.. I only dropped a single section when working. I had failed to load the yarn in the carriage. 
I sewed it up and it came ...

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What's the opposite of batting 1000? Lots of things happened yesterday - things that were related to my update list from yesterday, but NO progress was made on anything!!!

I had my call from Microsoft, and I think I mentioned that my Classic version of Outlook had frozen. Nope—it hadn't frozen. It's in the process of syncing all the folders, but it's taking a long time. Why? I suspect because the computer goes to sleep 5 minutes after I leave. So now I have set that to never, and hopefully, it will sync a bit faster ...

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I finally finished my scrappy star blanket!
It's the perfect size to throw on the couch for when you're a little chilled. It is just fabulous. 

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It was a wonderful day - AGAIN! I took tons of pictures, but not much to share with you. It was all for the two classes and the UFO club this weekend. The two presentations are totally prepped. I give the groups until 6 AM the day of the class to submit their pictures. I had an issue getting back to sleep at one point, so I was up in the middle of the night. Everything is DONE for today. Nothing new came in, so nothing new to add this morning! 

I will have to share the homework for Colour My ...

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It has been about a month since my last post about my scrappy 6-Day Crochet Star blanket. 

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I picked up some of these Red Heart yarns at a discount store. 
I grabbed this bright yellow to make up a hat on the LK150.
While this yarn is a worsted, the content makes it a really stiff yarn. I think I knitted it at too small a gauge. 
I mean, it looks fin here, but this is definitely sized for a baby. I'll give it another go with some adjusted settings. I want it to work. And if it doesn't work? Well, I can always crochet a hat. 

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 As usual, I'm down to the wire, but I made it!! 

Last year, I spotted an adorable project that I could make, so I started it. After a few sections were complete, the project was abandoned, like so many others. Recently, I decided to resurrect that project, and since I was making one, why not make two? OK - to be honest, I have one part of four done on one for myself! 

Then the goal was - let's get these things done in time for Christmas. But I struggled with travel and just time in general. With my SIL ...

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This is a slow project. Not that it is difficult, or anything. Only that I don't work on it very often. 
I may only add a row or two in a week. I love how the changing color each row makes for a fun change each row and the overall effect is fun. 

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I was excited to get up and continue knitting my cowl. However, as I was knitting, it just seemed wrong. I know that I hadn't planned to make it and was just using up some knitting worsted that my aunt had hanging around, and when I started, it seemed like such a good idea. But that niggling feeling wouldn't go away. And my aunt kept saying she thought the needles were the wrong size. 

So I went back to read the instructions only because we were going to the NEW yarn shop on Salt Spring Island, and I ...

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This is one of the best choose-your-own-adventure projects I've done. Just three more rounds but I don't work on it very often. I wonder if I could make a sweater like this... 

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I've decided to not just go scrappy with my next 6-Day Crochet Star blanket. 
I've sorted my colors into 20 colors and when it is time to start a new row I grab my hand 20-sided die and roll for the next color. I selected the first couple (the yellow and grays) colors but I'm all about the random colors now. 

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